238 
Among the ancient Greeks and Romans, again, the sacri- 
ficial system was in equal force, and of similar character in its 
details to that of the Hebrews and the Hindus. The prin- 
cipal sacrifices were of food-animals. In the time of Homer 
it was the custom to burn only the legs, enclosed in fat, and 
certain parts of the intestines, while the remaining parts of 
the victim were consumed by men ata festival meal (cf. 
Lev. in., &c.). Wine and incense were thrown upon the 
burning victim, and prayers were offered. The offering of 
fruit and cakes also was prominent, and they were often 
offered as tithes of the harvest, and as a token of gratitude 
to the god supposed to be propitiated. But further particulars 
need not be enlarged upon, which are known full well to every 
classical scholar. 
Among the Phoenicians and Assyrians also there were most 
elaborate sacrificial rituals. Some most striking parallels 
between those systems and the Hebrew sacrifices are noted 
by Mr. Sayce in Fresh Light from the Ancient Monuments, the 
offerings being called among theAssyrians “‘ peace-offerings,” 
and ‘‘ heave-offerings,”’ and “ sacrifices for sin”’; the Phoenician 
ritual also speaking of ‘‘ full-offerings,” “ prayer-offerings,” 
‘‘ thank-offerings,’”’ and the sacrifices being those of bullocks, 
sheep, goats, lambs, kids, and birds, as well as meal-offerings 
and oil. 
Without quoting any further examples, we have sufficient 
evidence that all the sacrificial systems of the nations point to 
one type in the far past. The further we go back the more 
perfect, as it appears to me, is the resemblance of the system 
to that which we believe to have been of Divine appointment. 
The primitive man must have had a most elaborate sacrificial 
worship to enable his descendants in so many scattered families 
to preserve such relics as we find of the same character. [or 
it 18 preposterous to suppose that each separate nation has 
worked out its own sacrificial system so as to hit the same 
identical customs as to libations, kinds of sacrifice, and endless 
minutiz, which are common to many, if not all, of these 
systems. And if primitive men worked out this system to 
the perfection indicated, while still existing as only one family 
in Central Asia, and gave it to the different members of their 
race before their migration to other lands, then we are entirely 
in the dark, with regard to natural causes, as to the processes 
by which it was arrived at; and the fragments of the system 
scattered over the earth, and now existing in India and else- 
* Fresh Light from the Ancient Monuments, pp. 77 et seq. 
